


Collateral Damage

by thecryptictaxi



Series: an apocryphal account of e. feint & k. snicket's relationship [1]
Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV), A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, All the Wrong Questions - Lemony Snicket
Genre: Angst, Breaking out of Prison Together, Enemies to Friends, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Friendship, Fugitives, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, discussion of morally gray organizations, is ellington actually in love, or did she just never have a meaningful relationship with another human being before, post-ATWQ, there's only one bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:47:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28568736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecryptictaxi/pseuds/thecryptictaxi
Summary: Kit pays for a room with emergency cash that’s stashed in the taxi. The hotel they’re staying at is small and a little bit grimy. The carpets are stained with dirt and oil and something that looks suspiciously like blood, and the lights don’t work properly. Because of that, Ellington doesn’t see the problem at first. But it becomes apparent after Kit tinkers with the lights a bit.There’s only one bed.And it’ll be a cold day in hell when she sleeps in the same bed with the sister of her enemy.[in which two fugitives form an unlikely friendship ft. my two favorite tropes: there's only one bed & moral ambiguity]
Relationships: Ellington Feint & Kit Snicket
Series: an apocryphal account of e. feint & k. snicket's relationship [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2093250
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Collateral Damage

Kit is very skilled, Ellington comes to a conclusion as the older girl breaks them out of the prison cart with only a skeleton key — she’s skilled, and that’s all the reason to keep her guard up. They exchange no words as they escape. Together, they run. Their shoes make noise as they hit the ground, Ellington’s louder than Kit’s.

They run until the prison car is out of sight, and Ellington leans over to catch her breath.

“Over here,” Kit says with authority, and Ellington is tempted to ignore her; go her own way. But they’re in the middle of nowhere, and Ellington does not have much directional sense. She relents and follows the other girl.

They walk and they walk and they finally reach a bridge, and under it is a yellow taxi. Ellington eyes it warily as they approach it, but gets in nonetheless.

“I don’t believe we’ve had a proper introduction,” Kit turns to her. “Kit Snicket.”

Her face twists at the name. “Snicket?” she manages.

“Yes, you seem to be acquainted with L.”

Ellington lets out a bitter laugh. “You could call it that.” She trusts Kit less than ever now, and she’s even on the verge of hating her.

“Ah.” Kit’s eyebrows furrow into what seems like understanding. “My brother tends to have that effect on people.”

_She has no idea_ , Ellington thinks. Instead, she says, “Is this your taxi?”

“My brother’s.”

“Snicket can drive?” She finds herself wondering.

“Not Lemony. My other brother. My twin.”

“Oh.” Of course there are more of them.

Kit turns the key in the ignition and the taxi hums to life.

“You should probably put your seatbelt on,” she says.

That is an understatement. Kit drives like a suicidal madwoman. It’s like she wants to crash the car. Ellington is scared, but she’d never admit it.

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know yet,” Kit says breezily. “My apprenticeship ended early when I got arrested. Do you have anywhere to be?”

“No.”

Kit drives just as recklessly the rest of the way to Hazy Harbor. Hazy Harbor, just as described, is hazy, and a harbor. There are many boats, but not many people. The air smells of sea salt and it is a constant reminder of Stain’d-by-the-Sea.

Kit buys her dinner even though it’s past dinnertime, and Ellington’s stomach grumbles. She has not eaten in quite some time.

“The shrimp is delicious here,” Kit tells her, “which is good because that’s all they have to eat in this wretched town.”

“You don’t like this place.” Ellington observes.

“Not in the slightest.”

They eat in silence. The shrimp scampi is indeed delicious, and Ellington finishes her entire plate in ten minutes.

Afterwards, Kit pays for a room with emergency cash that’s stashed in the taxi. The hotel they’re staying at is small and a little bit grimy. The carpets are stained with dirt and oil and something that looks suspiciously like blood, and the lights don’t work properly. Because of that, Ellington doesn’t see the problem at first. But it becomes apparent after Kit tinkers with the lights a bit.

There’s only one bed.

And it’ll be a cold day in hell when she sleeps in the same bed with the sister of her enemy.

Ellington stands unmoving at the door and glowers at Kit. She’s just not going to sleep, she tells herself. Oh, she’s tired alright. But one sleepless night wasn’t too bad. She could get through it. Then, she’d leave Hazy Harbor. Go on her own way.

Throughout Ellington’s mental turmoil, Kit pretends not to notice. It’s a small mercy. Ellington’s stubbornness is childish, but that doesn’t mean it’s not unreasonable. Kit seems to understand.

After hours of sulking, Kit finally steps in and manhandles Ellington into bed. She utters some nonsense about a study showing that a lack of sleep brings about poor performances. Ellington doesn’t protest. She’s just too exhausted. She lays down stiffly on her back, and tries her best to ignore the figure next to her.

Kit falls asleep soon enough, and once Ellington hears her breathing slow into a steady rhythm, she cries. She flips over onto her stomach and buries her face into the pillow, muffling her sniffles.

She’s angry at Snicket. The boy, not the sister. And she’s angry at herself for letting her father die. But most of all, she’s sad. She longs for a hug from her father — the father from before the Inhumane Society — or even a comforting pat on the head. She wishes to hear his voice, warm and gravely, reading her a bedtime story, or singing one of his jazzy tunes. She wishes to smell the sweet smell of wildflowers. She wishes to be young again, back in Killdeer Fields.

She cries some more, and she almost doesn’t notice the gentle hand timidly placed on her back.

Kit.

She doesn’t say anything. Just rubs her back comfortingly. Ellington is crying harder now, and she can’t find herself to care. She falls asleep a while later.

In the morning, they do not speak of the previous night. Ellington splashes ice cold water on her face to bring the puffiness down and combs out her tangled hair. When she exits the bathroom, Kit is on the bed, reading a book and ignoring the tear-stained pillow right next to her.

Upon closer inspection, Kit is reading _The Lathe of Heaven_. A stupid book, in her opinion, and horrendously boring. And she’s not even sure where it came from; Kit certainly didn’t have it on her before.

“Are you hungry?” Kit asks her, interrupting her thoughts.

They order room service. Kit’s scrambled eggs are undercooked and Ellington’s clam chowder soup does not have any clam in it. Instead, there are lumpy pieces of shrimp and potatoes.

“The tea is bearable, at least.” Kit grimaces.

Ellington tries a sip and mimics the older girl’s expressions. “It’s too bitter.”

“There’s sugar.” Kit nods towards the cracked sugar bowl on the tray. “But I have often been told that tea should be as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.”

“By who?” Ellington says, amused. “That secret organization of yours?”

“Yes, actually. How much do you know about that?”

“Enough to know that it’s fucked up.”

There is a long pause. Ellington studies Kit’s face to see if she is angry, but the girl’s face is calm and emotionless.

“We are a noble group of people,” Kit replies slowly.

Ellington laughs. “Noble people do not murder a man in cold blood. Your organization is far from noble, and so is your brother.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re not.”

“I am. I did not realize that your father was dead. L shouldn’t have done that.”

“He shouldn’t have,” Ellington snapped.

“But your father was a bad man, Ellington. He had to be stopped. I’m sorry he had to die but Lemony was only trying to protect us. Don’t blame him for wanting to keep the rest of the world safe.”

“You talk about my father and I like we are just collateral damage in that grand scheme of yours. It’s like that book you’re reading.” Ellington scoffs. “Doctor what's-his-name. A man so delusional to the point that he thinks of himself as noble. He wants to be a hero, just like you people. You think you’re saving the world, but you’re destroying it. You label yourselves as good but you’re no better than the rest of us. You’re no better than me, or my father. The only difference is that we don’t lie about our less-than-noble actions. We don’t delude ourselves.”

Kit looks into her eyes, and Ellington clenches her jaw tightly. She wants to look away but she doesn’t.

“Sometimes… the things we do don’t seem very noble. And sometimes, we even do bad things. But ultimately, we work towards a noble goal.”

“Your ‘noble goals’ will never be seen as noble to the rest of us,” Ellington says belligerently. “Even Snicket’s little accomplices were shocked by what he did.”

“We don’t strive for recognition,” Kit says. “We put out fires at whatever the cost. You may not think we are noble, but we make good changes in the world. You’ll understand when you grow up.”

“I _am_ grown up,” Ellington shoots back angrily. “I grew up the day my father joined the Inhumane Society. I grew up the day Snicket came to town. I grew up the day my father died. Don’t act like you know better than me because you were born a few miscellaneous years older than me!”

In her fit of rage, she picks up a tea cup and flings it across the room. It shatters into a million pieces. She then closes her eyes. She hasn’t lost her temper like this in ages. She’s still angry, but she feels bad for unleashing her temper at Kit. It’s Lemony Snicket that she’s really mad at.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Kit says.

“Me, too.”

Then, there is silence. Ellington pokes her now-cold soup with her spoon. If it had looked unappetizing before, it is now downright revolting. Kit’s scrambled eggs don’t look any better, either.

“Do you want to eat out?” Kit says finally.

“At the place we ate last night?”

“Sure.”

By the time they sit down at the restaurant, it’s lunch time. They order then sit across from each other in an awkward silence. Neither of them are very good at voicing apologies, so Ellington is glad they’ve come to a sort of silent agreement.

The shrimp is just as good as she remembers it.

“I’m never eating room service from the Elektra Hotel again,” Kit says. “I don’t know why we didn’t even think to come here in the first place.”

“Right? What did we expect from a hotel with moldy water?”

Eventually, their argument fades away to the back of their minds, and for the next two days, Ellington and Kit find themselves becoming reluctant friends. They eat out and they explore the small town. They discover a new restaurant that serves something other than shrimp, and they even go swimming in the sea.

On their fourth night at Hazy Harbor, however, Kit says what Ellington has been expecting all along.

“I have to leave.”

They are sitting at the docks, their feet dipped into the water. It’s freezing, but Ellington barely notices it.

“Why?” The answer is obvious.

“Well first off, I’ve just spent the remainder of the emergency cash. Also, I’ve received a letter from my superiors. I have to get back to the headquarters.”

Ellington ignores the last part. “I could get a job. You could get a job too. We could stay here.”

“I already have a job,” Kit says. “Besides, you know I don’t like it here. It’s too… hazy.”

“We could go to the City,” Ellington suggests, though she knows it is futile.

Kit takes Ellington’s hand into her own and kisses her knuckles apologetically.

“I’m sorry, E.”

“Please don’t leave.” Her voice cracks. You’re my only friend, she doesn't say. I want to be with you, she thinks.

“The organization is my family,” Kit whispers. “I don’t have anything else.”

“You have me,” Ellington says desperately. “Don’t leave. I promise, I’ll get a job. We can afford a place in the City. You don’t have to leave.”

When Kit doesn't reply, Ellington continues, "That organization doesn't care about you. You know that. They think what they do is noble enough to neutralize murder. They made _you_ think that what they're doing is noble. They're tricking you! How long until you become collateral damage too? Just like my father? But if you stay..."

“You could come with me,” Kit runs a hand through her brown hair, “volunteer.”

“No,” Ellington says sadly. “You know I can’t do that.”

“I’m sorry,” Kit says again.

“I wish you’d stop saying that,” Ellington tells her. “You don’t have to apologize.”

The sun has set long ago and the world around them is dark. Vaguely, Ellington can make out her friend’s face under the pearlescent gleam of the moon. In another circumstance, this could even be romantic, she thinks in amusement.

“I don’t want to leave.”

“I know. But you have to, right?”

“I can’t leave my family,” Kit confirms.

“I understand.” She doesn’t, not really. But she knows it’s important to Kit.

“What will you do when I’m gone?”

“I don’t know.” Ellington shrugs. “Travel, maybe. I’ve always wanted to go to Paris. Or Shanghai. Of course, I’d have to get a job first.”

“I can’t quite see you waiting tables,” Kit says.

“There are other ways to get money,” Ellington replies. “Kit…”

“I’ll miss you. Will you write to me?”

“I don’t know where I’d write to. Where do you live, anyway?”

“All around. Just give the letter to the postman. Write my name on the envelope.”

“And you’ll get it?” Ellington says skeptically.

Kit nods in response.

“Okay. I will. You’ll write back?”

“Of course I will.”

Feeling brave, Ellington takes Kit’s hand in her own. Affection used to be a foreign thing before Kit came along. Now, it comes as naturally as the waves in Hazy Harbor.

The next day, when they part, Ellington does not cry. She's stronger than that. Kit offers her a ride, but she refuses. Instead, Ellington watches from the side of the road as the yellow taxi drives off somewhere far into the distance. Her heart is heavy and it may just be her mind playing games, but she swears Kit is driving a little bit slower, as though she is reluctant to leave.

**Author's Note:**

> first published fic of 2021, whew! let me know what you think <3
> 
> scream about asoue with me on my [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/inner-egg-pong).


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